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Wednesday, 20 May 2015

The Day of Pentecost

Today is the day of the
Pentecost. It is the day when we
celebrate the pouring out of God’s Holy Spirit on the infant church, but not
only the infant church that had gathered in Jerusalem but the whole church in
all times and places. Today we celebrate
that the Spirit of God is poured out on us.
Or do we?

Do you have a sense of the work of the
Holy Spirit in your life? Do you have
sense of being a charismatic person? By
which I mean do you recognise the gifts of the Spirit in your life that you
have been given for the building up of the whole body? Are we as a congregation listening for the
wind of the Spirit blowing through our congregation? Or are we possibly too staid, too set in our
ways, too tied to being proper to be moved by the work of the Spirit, with its
rushing wind and tongues of fire?

This morning as we explore together
God’s pouring out of the Holy Spirit and the meaning of that day of Pentecost
so long ago we will also explore what it means to be filled with the Spirit
now. In exploring these things together
I will be focussing us on three aspects of the passages and then bringing them
together under the question of the mission of the church.

The first aspect of the passage that
is important to reflect on is the meaning of the feast of Pentecost for the Israelites. The feast of Pentecost, also commonly know as
the feast of weeks or of the harvest, took place fifty days after the Passover
and was one of the 3 pilgrimage feasts – Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. There can be little doubt that the presence
of Jesus followers in Jerusalem
was for this feast. They had come
together to worship God.

The feast focussed the Israelites
first and foremost on God’s activity in creation. It was a springtime feast when people brought
offerings of their crops before God. In Leviticus
23:17 we are told that two loaves were elevated and waved before the people to
remind them of God’s goodness in giving them all things. God gave abundantly and the response of the
people was to give to God and celebrate together. In a crude sense they came together to
worship God and to party.

But whilst worship and thanksgiving to
God were at the centre, the celebration also contained a heart for all
people. In Leviticus 23:22 we hear that
when the harvest was to be gathered in people were instructed not to reap the
edges of the field. The edges were to be
left for the poor and alien. How could
God’s people celebrate God’s abundant giving when other’s suffered from
deprivation? To do so would have been a
denial of God’s abundance, a denial of the covenant! In the feast we see enacted the two fold
commandment love of God and love of neighbour.

It is in this context that God pours
out his Spirit on the early church. In
the context of a festival that focussed on God’s abundant giving in this
life. In the context of a festival that
focussed people on worship of God and provision for and care of others.

This brings me to the second aspect of
the readings for our consideration, the way in which the Spirit is poured out. The Spirit manifests itself in a wind and in
divided tongues of fire which come upon the disciples who were gathered
together. It is a miraculous sight and
sound display of God’s power and presence.
We do not know how many followers of Jesus were there but we get a sense
that it was quite a crowd for it drew the attention of others.

The Spirit that is poured out is the
Spirit promised by Christ in John 14. It
is the Spirit of truth that cannot be received by the world because it opposes
God. It is the Spirit sent to bring
comfort and to bring peace. It is the
Spirit of Christ sent to be an Advocate to teach and remind the disciples of
Jesus and the good news for all humankind.

The miracle that takes place after the
Spirit is received is often referred to as speaking in tongues, although one
might better describe it as hearing in tongues.
The disciples spoke among themselves but the crowd that had been drawn
together heard the disciples speaking in their own languages. The gift of tongues in this instance is
focussed on those who our outside. It is
gift that allows the listeners to hear what was being said in their own
language. Parthians, Medes, Elamites,
residents of Mesopotamia and so and so forth!

The gift is given not so that the
disciples can understand one another. It
is not given so that Jesus followers might simply get a spiritual rush or
high. It is not given so that those who
were gathered could be confirmed in their faith as the saved ones as opposed to
those outside. The gift is given so that
others might hear the proclamation. What
were the followers sharing? The
disciples were speaking about God’s great deeds of power and God gives the
crowd who had gathered the opportunity to hear this in their own language. I wonder when it was that someone who was not
a Christian last overheard you discussing the great deeds of God.

The pouring out of the Spirit
fulfilled Jesus promise to send a helper, a comforter and a guide to Jesus
followers. But more than that in the
manifestation of the Spirit others were drawn to hear the good news of Jesus
Christ and through the power of God they were empowered to hear the message.

This brings me to the third aspect that
I would like us to consider this morning which is what Peter had to say. Peter draws from the prophecy of Joel which
spoke of God pouring out his Spirit on all flesh. ‘Your sons and daughters will prophesy, and
your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even
upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit.’

Young and old, male and female, slave
and free. All shall receive God’s
Spirit. The people of God gathered
together to be God’s people with one another and God working in their midst by
the power of the Holy Spirit. This
Spirit is given to help people remember God’s grace in Jesus Christ. It is given to comfort and guide them. This is the promise of God. If we were to read on we would hear that
Peter goes on to speak of Jesus and what he has done. He speaks of the mystery of the faith Christ
has died, Christ has risen and Christ will come again. He speaks of the grace and mercy of God
established through Jesus’ sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. Peter calls people to repent and to be
baptised.

The Spirit is poured out to inaugurate
and establish the body of Christ as a representative beginning of the new
creation. It is poured out to establish
a community of faith, in relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It is poured out for the sake of the gospel
message. Peter proclaims the Spirit’s
coming on all flesh and the coming together of people under the gracious
sovereignty of Christ.

Today these three aspects Pentecost,
the gift of the Spirit, and the establishment of the church are tied together
to give to us a sense of who we are and what we are called to be as the Spirit
is poured out on us.

Firstly we are called to be a
worshipping people. The Spirit is not
poured out on individuals so that they can be a Christian wandering aimlessly
out there disconnected from God and the people of God. When we come together we embody what we are,
we become the body of Christ. Being a
Christian is not simply a moral lifestyle choice, being a Christian involves
worshipping God, celebrating with God’s people and giving thanks and praise to
God for his abundant grace. This is not
done so that we can be saved but so that we might remember and so that the
world might know of God’s love.

Second, we are called to be a generous
people. We bring our free will offering
to God and we leave the edges of our harvest for the poor. As Christians ours is not to judge the poor
and alienated for their predicament, ours is to declare God’s generosity to us
through our generosity to others. It is
so easy to bury our heads in the sand of our own lives and forget that there
are those in great need around us. Since
I have been here in I have learned of the need for affordable housing in the
area, I have learned of the need of those who live in community housing around
us. We do not have to run next door to
the next suburb to find the needy, but we should be challenged to see the great
need that is out there. Not just next
door, but in the wider community of this world in which we live. If we celebrate together without
consideration for those who do not have enough to even survive, let alone
celebrate, have we really understood the call to be the people of God? God has bee so generous to us let us celebrate
God’s generosity through our own.

Third, we are called to be a Spirit
filled people. I have said before today
that I do not believe I have so called miraculous gifts of the Spirit like
tongues or healing. But this does not
mean that you or I are any less Spirit filled.
We are charismatic because God has given to us gifts of the Spirit so
that we might be reminded about Jesus Christ and his love for us and so that we
might share the good news with others.

Fourth, we are called to be the people
of God together. Young and old, slave
and free, male and female and might I suggest of all races and languages. We live in difficult times in this area. The church has already been rent asunder by
denominational loyalties. The church is
becoming more segregated into age groups and idiosyncratic worship styles. Far too often I hear of another Church where
there is a traditional service at 8 a.m. for the oldies, a family service at 10
and a youth service in the evening at 7.
The body is broken - the dreams and the visions aren’t shared but held
closely and jealously almost against one another. As people of the Spirit we need to open our
hearts and minds to the unity of the body given to us in Christ Jesus. At Synod during the Norman and Mary Miller
lecture it was stated that Christians often mistake cliques for community. We need to ask difficult questions about our
own traditions and expectations as a congregation, myself included. We need to continually be challenged to make
space for others to belong in our midst and nurture them in the faith.

Fifth, we are called to be evangelists
proclaiming the good news. On that day
of Pentecost so long ago of the crowd that had gathered some three thousand
were baptised. When did you last share
the faith with someone who does not believe?
When did you last speak with one another of the great deeds of power
done by our God? When did you last bring
another person into the family of God?
When did you examine what God is calling you to be as you respond in
thanks and praise? It is well and truly
past the time when we should have realised that this country in which we live
is not a Christian nation. We have never
had a state religion. Less than 1 in ten
attend a Christian church regularly. The
scope for evangelism is huge. We have
good news to share. It is not the
minister’s job. It is all of our jobs
as people to whom the Spirit has spoken.

Today is the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit was poured out so that we
might be reminded of the good news of Jesus Christ. The Spirit continues to guide and inspire the
people God. Are we ready to
respond? Are we willing to listen to the
dreams and visions? Are we willing to
speak to one another and to the world of God’s grace? Are we ready for the unexpected and the
exciting things which God might do in our midst?

After a few moments of silence I am
going to give you the opportunity to share the work of the Spirit and of God’s
great deeds with the person beside.
Share what you think God may be calling you or us as a church to
do? If you are not sure where God is
leading you tell the other person and ask that whoever it is that you are
speaking to, to pray for you this week as you seek to understand God’s will for
your life. Let us to take a few moments
to think about what you might say to one another and then we will share.